Chip Bridges Webboard User Reg: 03-29-2009
Posts: 280
Loc: Western North Carolina
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I have an American Bulldog and an APBT (and an English bulldog, who I'll leave out of this discussion). Both are well-trained and the AB has her CD certification. The pit pup is technically my elderly mother's, but I train him and he could already pass his CD with flying colors at seven months. My problem is that I am already seeing signs in him that are an issue with me with my American bulldog. Just like my Rose, he will NOT stop fetching, etc. I have to pry her off the spring pole and lead her inside every time. I have a game with the puppy where I get in the pool and throw an inflated ball for him to bounce back to me. Cutest thing in the world, I'm workin' on getting video of it to post here. On hot days, he (or Rose, my AB) will obsess on the "pool ball" game until beyond the point where they exhibit labored breathing. You can't just put the ball away. They OBSESS! They are exhausted, but simply will not take a breather, lay down, take a drink, etc.
What I love most about bully breeds is the tenacity/loyalty. But with some dogs, this seems to go to an extreme. When I meet up for play dates, both the boxer and lab mix lay down when tired. The Ab and pit would sooner run after a thrown object when in play-mode than eat a steak, no matter how tired. With both I now have to bring them inside for an hour to get them back into something close to the dogs that I know. I haven't introduced the pit pup to the spring pole yet, but I expect the same by his current play behavior. With a super high-drive dog, how do you folks end their beloved games?
I wish I had a camcorder to show this behavior and how extreme it is. They wont even take a drink of water! It's all about the task at hand, and it's a chore for me every time I need/choose to stop it. When there isn't an object to chase or tug, they are ambassadors for their breeds. They walk at heel, behave off-leash, and know several commands; from practical basics to "sit pretty," "roll over," and "play dead." They wait until called for their meals, every thing I've learned about ending dominant dog traits. But when a tennis ball or tug toy comes into the mix, they are retrieving/tug robots. Any serious input/advice appreciated.
Will Rambeau Moderator Reg: 01-25-2003
Posts: 5983
Loc: Idaho
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Chip - if the dog is really high drive, there's just no stopping them.
Believe me...I know firsthand as I have lived with a hard-core driven maniac of a dog for seven years now ( plus I own his demon grand daughter...it will *never* end ).
It's all up to you, you basically end up tricking them by using sleight of hand ( Hey...the ball disappeared....let's go inside" ) or else it's just you as the pack leader saying "enough fella, we're done" as you pocket the drive item.
It's both as simple and hard as that, and there's a lot of us here that have gone through just what you need to master with our dogs, so we're here if you need us, and hehehe..."we've been there and done that" and we understand what you're going through.
^^^I use both of those methods for my fairly high drive puppy. Some days I'm able to get the tug back into my pocket without him seeing but, most days it's a case of putting the tug in my pocket when I can get it away from him on an up-note and just bringing him in when I think the game should end. Then it's a drink of water and at least an hour in the crate before any further interaction. He's obnoxious as hell during that hour but, he does calm down.
Anne Jones Webboard User Reg: 04-29-2004
Posts: 3825
Loc: Northeast
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I just tell my dogs that we are 'all done' & that's the end. I tell them to go lay down or I bring them in the house. My female has an off switch, when I say that't it...that's it! My male doesn't stop until he 'hits the wall'. With him, I often resort to 'time out' by some crate time to get him to calm down.
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